ARCHIVED - Covid restrictions relaxed in Spain after infection rates fell again over the weekend
Greater freedom to travel and socialize but the threat of a fourth wave remains
The latest coronavirus update published on Monday afternoon by Ministry of Health provides further evidence that the third wave of the pandemic is subsiding in Spain, with the figure of 20,849 confirmed cases over the weekend representing a decrease of around a third in comparison with the weekend before and bringing the 14-day accumulated incidence rate down to 252 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
It is perhaps understandable after the surge in case numbers, hospital patients and fatalities after Christmas and the New Year that most of the attention in the press is focussing at present on this good news, and indeed further encouragement is provided by the number of Covid patients in hospital falling to 15,208, accounting for 12.1 per cent of all occupied beds. This is a significantly smaller proportion than the peak figures of a few weeks ago, and at the same time the situation is also improving in intensive care units, where 33 per cent of beds are occupied by coronavirus patients and in no region is the proportion above 50 per cent.
In addition, the incidence rate is now below the “extreme risk” threshold of 250 in 11 of the country’s 17 regions, the only exceptions being Madrid, Catalunya, the Basque Country, Castilla y León, Andalucía, Aragón and Asturias.
On the other hand, though, over half of Spain’s population live in these 7 regions, and a further 535 fatalities over the weekend (taking the official pandemic death toll up to 67,636) offer a reminder that the situation is still a long way from “normal”.
Despite this, most of the regional governments are beginning to relax the restrictions which are credited with achieving the drop in infection over the last three weeks, re-opening outdoor terraces at bars and restaurants and allowing more freedom to socialize and to travel. Neither are warnings that this could lead to a fourth wave of infection diluted to any significant extent by the progress in the vaccination campaign: although over 3 million doses of the Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZenecca vaccines have been administered in Spain they have reached only just under 1.9 million people, representing a mere 4 per cent of the population.